Sandusky case isn’t finished yet

June 24, 2012

Now that Jerry Sandusky is in the jail cell he so richly deserves, the inevitable talk of closure is sure to begin.

It's time - the talking heads will say - for us to file solemnly out of Bellefonte, where the trial took place and where Sandusky finally got what was coming to him.

It's time - some will say - to leave State College and the Penn State University campus, where Sandusky ruined so many lives, so both the town and the school can begin to heal.

It's time - they'll say - for a return to normalcy in Happy Valley.

That isn't going to happen. Thanks to Sandusky and his one-time enablers in some of the highest positions of power in the region and at Penn State, the university's perception has forever been changed.

That's unfortunate, but it isn't the tragedy here.

The victims - whose sworn testimony about unspeakable acts committed by a man so many trusted implicitly and so many others knew was a predator but did nothing to stop him - aren't going to be able to walk away from this the way the rest of us will.

Sandusky will spend the rest of his life in prison, but he is 68 years old. He has essentially lived his life - sordid as it was. His victims will deal with what he did to them for decades to come.

And the eight victims who testified against Sandusky are not alone. This man didn't just wake up one morning after 50 years on the planet and decide to spend the next decade or two of his life molesting young boys. Even as the trial approached, began and then drew to a close, there were reports of others who said Sandusky had abused them. One of them was his own adopted son, Matt.

How many other victims of this monster are out there? The answer could be staggering and we may never know for sure.

It will only be a little easier to quantify just how many others share in the responsibility for allowing a monster to roam State College and beyond, troll for victims and get away with it for years.

You can be sure some of them will try to blame former Penn State coach Joe Paterno, perhaps the most powerful man in State College. The university itself did just that when it became clear he knew Sandusky was a predator and simply passed the information along to his superiors. It was as if his former top assistant had simply violated some obscure NCAA rule.

Paterno died two months after being fired, but he wasn't alone in his complicity. Others since fired by Penn State and some still on the payroll should go to prison for their parts in the worst coverup in college sports history.

The irony is that these men did not want Sandusky's evil deeds to cast a shadow on Paterno's legacy. They chose to try to save the reputation of an old man and a university, instead of children in peril.

That's why there never will be closure for Penn State, despite apologists who try to cast this story as that of a single, evil man.

The stain won't fade. No one will ever look at those pristine, white uniforms the same way again.